Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-24
DAILY HERALD.
THE TEMPLE.
YRov. DIR. Chichester speaks Of the
Architecture of God.

THE TEMPLE.
yRev. DIR, Chichester Speaks Of the
Architecture of God.
Rev. J. j. Chichester, at the First
Presbyterian Church, yesterday, took
for his text the seventh verse of the
sixth chapter Of 1. Kings, as follows: ::
"And the house when it was in build
ing was made of stone made ready be-
fore it was brought thither, so that
there was neither hammer nor axe
nor any tool of iron heard in the
house while it was in building" In
speaking of the great superiority of
our modern civilization we are prone
to underestimate the achievements
of past generations, especially those
made in the very early days of the
worlds history. We OF this age
imagine ourselves so much in advance
Of the old Hebrews that We don't
think it possible that they could teach
us anything at all with which we are
not now familiar, and yet, with all
their so-called rudeness and inferi-
Ority they accomplished some things
that no modern nation has yet at
tempted. Take the matter OF archi-
lecture, for example, matter in
which we pride ourselves in having
made the most progress, and we do
not compare with the past. Think Of the
many magnificent structures that now
stand all over the world as monuments
of mans architectural genius, the
splendid cathedrals of central Europe,
the rock-bound castles on the Rhine,
the dome of st. Peters and our own
massive dome at Washington, we can
not help but feel, in this modern age of
architecture that the mind OF man has
been making giant strides toward per-
lection, ,and yetwith all our boasted pro-
gress those semi-barbarous Hebrews
could teach us something of which we
are ignorant, even with our art of
building, for in the history of archi-
lecture this Temple of King Solomon
is without a parallel. 1t was erected
on the rugged Mount Moriah, whose
entire summit had to be leveled down
the same as the Raymond knoll, but
even this proved too narrow till Solo
mon gave greater breadth OF beauty
by building walls of masonry that
reached fardown in the rugged ravines.
Besides, this structure was very sim
pie, partiioned off on each side by a
veil into rooms 80 feet square. The
porch that fronted the house ran up
l8O feet and was entirely overlaid with
gold, while beams, and posts, and
doors, and walls, and even nails were
all wrought over with the same pre-
cious metal, the actual cost of the
edifice being about So, 900, ,000,0 900. AL
though an Immense army of laborers
were at work all the time, it took
seven years to finish it, but there it
stood. the pride of Israel and the
world, the most perfect work of inn
perfect man. The remarkable Cir
cumstauce to which our text calls
special attention is the wonderful fact
that all measurements were made and
all materials prepared before brought
to Jerusalem, and while this building
was in course of erection there was
not heard the sound of hammer and
axe, and when we consider the
fact that some of the blocks OF
marble we're eighty feet long, ten
feet high and twelve wide, it seems
almost incredible that such ponder
.ous stones could be cut in their distant
duarries and then dressed and polished
and shaped down to hairbreadth,
so that, according to Josephus, when
brought to Moriah, and arranged in
their places, the smallest in
terstices were not perceptible be-
tween them. True, we are told by
architects that such feat OF archl-
lecture is entirely within range OF
possibility OF our modern engineers,
and yet it is not accomplished, for in
this age of din and hustle, of rattling
wheels and ringing hammers and
screeching machinery, We can get
hardly anything without a noise, and
whatever may be our present archi'
tectural possibility, it still remains a
fact that no modern structure has ever
been lifted into its place in such ma
iestic silence, and the question arises
What was the object OF this peculiar
and exceptional mode that God thus
led the Hebrews to adopt in the cree
ton of the Temple? From what we
know OF his other dealings with them
we are led to believe that it was para
lnountly to educate them in lessons o
spiritual life and also of educating us.
This temple is to be regarded as more
than q mere architectural curiosity. II
is solemn and stately prophecy
pointing forward to another that God
is now building in this world. Even
this living spiritual temple that is be-
ing built up of the Apostles and saints
with Jesus Christ as chief corner stone
.invisibly, silently, secretly, its walls
are rising through centuries as rose
that glittering pile on Mount Moriah
and we call this temple our new testa-
ment, phraseologically the temple oi
the Holy Ghost, the House of Christ,
the Church of the Living God.
The Apostle tells us that the whole
body OF Christ's people in heaven and
Oh earth are builded together for a
habitation OF God through the spirit,
and with these Introductory remarks
the speaker proceeded to speak of sew
eral particulars wherein the temple OF
Christ's Church resembles this ancient
temple of King Solomon. First as to
materials out Of which it was built,
then as to the manner in which these
materials were gotten ready. and in
closing he emphasized the fact that
the new temple resembles the old as